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Pulitzer Prize-winning author to speak at Purdue Northwest

February 14, 2018

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What is America’s largest export, most prodigious product and greatest legacy – the biggest thing we make? Our trash.

Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and non-fiction writer, will discuss “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash – and the Way Back,” on Thurs., March 1, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Purdue University Northwest Hammond Campus. The location will be Alumni Hall in the Student Union & Library, 2233 173rd Street.

The event is free and open to the public. To R.S.V.P., visit the event web page. The author’s discussion will be followed by a book signing.

Addressing a problem that we can do something about

Humes will expose how waste lies at the heart of all the big problems of the day – the economy, energy, national security, climate, diminishing natural resources – crises that would be much smaller, and might not exist at all, were we not the biggest wasters on the planet. But Humes also will share the good news: There is a way back. Families, businesses and communities are finding inspiring and ingenious ways to offset this damaging legacy. Humes inspires audiences to get behind the one big environmental and social problem that just about everyone can do something meaningful to change.

“Like many of us, Humes finds these issues resonate deeply with many, especially young people,” said Karen Bishop Morris, chair of PNW’s department of English and an organizer of the program. “He visits schools and communities from coast to coast, and this is a unique opportunity to hear him bring his message of change to Northwest Indiana.”

Humes’ visit is the culmination of PNW’s “One Book/One University” common reading program for the current academic year. Through One Book/One University, first-year students at Purdue Northwest share academic experiences through reading a common text.

Humes also will lead a panel discussion of PNW students and Northwest Indiana environmental experts at 10 a.m. on Fri., March 2, in the Great Hall of the Dworkin Student Services and Activity Complex at Purdue Northwest’s Westville Campus, 1401 S. U.S. Highway 421. The discussion, titled “Garbology: A PNW Perspective,” is part of Purdue Northwest’s annual Founders Day programming.

Humes is a journalist and author of 14 books, most recently Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation (April 2016) and Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash. He received a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the military for the Orange County Register newspaper, and a PEN Award for his book set in LA’s juvenile court, No Matter How Loud I Shout.